Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Same cookies, diferent kind of leavenings!
Do you know Cookiemadness? It's the wonderful blog of Anna who bakes something new everyday. I check it daily because I like Anna's inputs on the recipes and her quests to perfect them. A few weeks ago Anna started the quest for cloning a Chocolate chip cookie from a famous NY bakery, but the funny thing is that she had never tasted the cookies!

Is this a small hand or a big cookie? You decide!

I read all the comments on Anna's blog about this subject: people that had tasted the cookies, some that had seen this tv show, curious, chocolate chip cookies lovers, etc. I got involved with this and for me cloning wasn't the issue anymore, I just wanted to find the best cookie ever! Well, this is almost impossible I know because tastes differ so much from person to person. But hey, I can try and find the best cookie FOR ME. You if you want, try and find yours :) !
After Anna baked I don't know how many batches she finally got to her final one. Today I decided to give it a try, but decided to experiment it my way. I divided the dough into 4 and used 4 different kinds of leavenings. I just love this experiments and that's why I live in love with pastry.

Here they are, the 4 "little" things! Top left has good old BAKING POWDER, top right has well known BAKING SODA, bottom left has classic combo BAKING POWDER + BAKING SODA and bottom right I decided to inovate and trow in some magic: INSTANT YEAST. Instant yeast in a cookie? Well, why not I ask?

Beat butter and both sugars just until they come together. Don’t over-beat. Add the egg and salt and beat just until incorporated.
Mix together the flour and favourite leavening . When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. The dough should be neither sticky nor dry.
Divide dough into two large mounds, but keep the mounds kind of raggedy. That is, don’t smash them into compact balls.
Bake on pre-heated oven at 190ºC (375º F) for 10m and then reduce the oven to 180ºC (350ºF) and bake 10 m more. Cool on sheet for about 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

So what did I think of all this?

Cookie 1 (BP)- Really nice, dense (in a good way), the preatiest one of the bunch. Chewy and nice flavour. Didn't spread so much as BS.

Cookie 2 (BS)- Least favourite, I could taste the baking soda. It was the browner one, and the one the spreaded more. It had a cakeey texture, a bit dry.

Cookie 3 (BP+BS)- Very ok cookie. Really the child of Cookie 1 and 2, not so dry as 2 but not so chewy as 1. Perfect cookie for Goldilooks maybe.

Cookie 4 (IY)- Now my friends this was THE cookie. It was very heavy and I thought it would be way to rich before tasting it, but no. It was very chewy but with really crunchy edges. It was the one that least spreaded and the whiter one as well. I think I'll have to be fair and say it was the less pretty from the 4, but hey who cares for looks?! I was so happy with this interesting find of mine! Was this the perfect cookie for me? Oh maybe yes... It was for today at least! And I'm sure I'll use instant yeast in cookies again to experiment!

Rita! Thanks so much for your comment and welcome. I love experimenting in cooking and baking, and what you did with these cookies is fantastic and right up my alley! They look amazing, and I'm definitely going to try the 'yeast' because it sounds so interesting.

I think they look incredible, Rita, not to mention your blog is so pretty. I'm just on basic wordpress.com for now, so not too many colorful themes to choose from, not to mention, my photos get cut off, so I have to start making them smaller :(

I'm going to wait it out before I 'upgrade', but I still hate how boring my page looks! LOL

That said, thanks so much for the 'linking', as I LOVE baking and am looking forward to seeing all of your great creations and experimentations.

I love your blog! I made these cookies with yeast and they didn't spread at all... maybe they were 5% bigger. Did I do something wrong? I mean, they still tasted good and were dense and chewy though...